Shondaland is place filled with drama, love, secrets, lies, heartbreak, hope, and life-threatening circumstances. Its residents are gladiators, politicians, interns, doctors, lawyers, and even presidents. While this "land" is obviously presided over by a woman named "Shonda" the train is kept on the tracks by a woman named Betsy. Join Ms. Beers for a live edition of EW's series "Three Rounds with...," as we pour the Tito's Handmade Vodka for Annalise, toast some tequila for Meredith Grey, and have a glass of red for Olivia Pope, while Betsy spills (hopefully not her drink) to EW's editor-in-chief about her role in Shondaland, how it began and evolved, and where TGIT's leading ladies might be headed.

ATX has partnered with Geeks Who Drink to bring an awesome night of TV Trivia to ATX attendees! Team up with friends - new and old - and test your TV knowledge. If you're unfamiliar with Geeks Who Drink and their Pub Trivia Quizzes, you're in for a treat! Get ready for awesome prizes, some great TV trivia, and expect a few special surprise guests to swing by! We'll have a cash bar and there will be snacks available for purchase.
RSVP here: https://atxtvtrivianight.splashthat.com/
*Not eligible for Fast Passes

Historically, most character breakdowns are intrinsically tied to age, gender, race, and ethnicity -- which can make casting extremely specific when it comes to finding the actor to embody that character. But times they are a changin’. The concept of "blind casting" comes when a creator has shaped a character in his or her mind, but has not set the physicality of that part (from race and ethnicity to age and gender). Listen as these creators, executive producers, and casting directors discuss this new process, how it both can be freeing and hindering, and the way it is changing the television industry.

"Breaking story" is a term heard frequently when writers and showrunners discuss the process of planning and plotting a season -- but what does it mean? Come find out as we attempt to demystify this process.

For as long as LGBTQIA viewers have seen themselves on screen, their stories have been subject to any number of damaging and stereotypical tropes -- and while there are more and more series leading the charge to break stereotypes and push representation forward, the recent #LGBTFansDeserveBetter movement has made it clear these tropes persist. In this conversation, a range of creatives discuss the importance of inclusion, intersectionality, and positive LGBTQIA representation on TV.

From judges to presidents, elections to courtrooms, scandals to power plays — the drama and hope within the American political system often lends itself to some of TV’s bleakest and most inspiring moments. In this conversation, creatives and executives from iconic political series examine working with an existing framework of D.C., what happens when fictional politics meet real-world expectations, and why the subject lends itself to rich storytelling and keeps an audience tuning in.

A comedy series about a bachelor brother and his newly divorced sister living under one roof again. Together, they coach each other through the crazy world of dating while raising her teenage daughter.

From superheroes to villains, cops to criminals, zombies to post-apocalyptic survivors -- TV’s most memorable action scenes have at least one thing in common: a stunt performer who has choreographed and calculated the impact of every car chased, gun fired, and punch thrown. Hear from the coordinators & actors who bring these sequences to life as they discuss & demonstrate the intense process behind getting that once-in-a-lifetime take, all the way from training and choreography to small-screen execution.

Join Achievement in Television eXcellence awardee Norman Lear for an in-depth conversation with Jerrod Carmichael about his career in TV, the state of the medium today, and how important it is to contributing to real and impactful change.

After more than a decade of reporting crime from the streets of Baltimore, how did a career journalist like David Simon learn to navigate a TV writers’ room? The outcome was in no small part due to the indispensable guidance of veteran TV producer Tom Fontana. Together, they brought Simon’s realistic characterization of the BPD's Homicide division to life in the provocative and critically-lauded, Homicide: Life on the Street. Separately, the two would go on to create two series that began to define HBO and stand out as part of the TV revolution: Oz and The Wire. Join Simon and Fontana as they reflect on their earlier and vastly different experiences in the realm of 90s broadcast TV.

ATX Advisory Board members (oh, and the creators of Emmy Award-winning television programs) Beau Willimon and Noah Hawley sit down to discuss the breadth of their work. Their experiences in storytelling span: political speechwriting to film and TV scripts to novels and plays. The two writers will compare notes on the merits and disadvantages of their respective non-TV endeavors as they explore the vast array of outlets for storytelling, and Hawley winds down the book tour for his second novel, Before the Fall.